Canterbury Tale's

May 29, 2011

The Pilgrim's Tale

Our Pilgrim's journey took us first to Chiddingstone, a tiny village outside of Tonbridge, southeast of London. Chiddingstone is the location of The Castle Inn, the first of the historic pubs outside of London on Tim's list that we have visited. It is a lovely pub, as you can see from the pictures, and we had a wonderful pub lunch and Tim had an excellent local Bitter Ale. We have no idea how we finally found this pub but we are glad we did. From Chiddingstone our Pilgrimage continued on to Canterbury where we visited the Canterbury Cathedral. Actually Tim went in while Lynda shopped and had a glass of wine and read. The beauty of the Cathedral was enhanced by the choir that was rehearsing in the quire. We had visited this cathedral many years ago but did not remember some of the details. For example, there is a candle perpetually burning behind the present day alter to mark the spot where The Saint Paul of Canterbury Chapel stood until it was destroyed by King Henry VIII during the reformation. There is also a Chapel of the Martyrs marking the spot where Thomas Beckett was martyred in 1100 something. Now there is a very modern cross over a small, simple alter where Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury prayed together for Thomas Beckett. This was a major event in ecumenical unity. Our Pilgrim's journey ended in Sandwich, a lovely town on the coast just south of the Thames estuary. Famously and truthfully, the Earl of Sandwich placed a piece of meat between two slices of bread to create, are you ready, the sandwich. There is no truth to the story that this first sandwich was served to Sir Loin of Kent.

The Golfer's Tale

Sandwich is the home of the Royal St. George's Golf Club. Sunday morning, in bright sunshine and a cool breeze, Tim walked out to the course, about a mile's walk. There is a public footpath that passes through the course so Tim was able to walk out by the 18th green, even though a member greeted Tim at the entrance to the club and explained that it was members' only on the weekend and they could not have a lot of people wandering around. Well!! Royal St. George's is hosting the British Open in July and grandstands already surround the 18th green. Tim could see other grandstands in place around the course and many television towers already erected. It was exciting to be that close to the 18th hole where the world's greatest golfers will be playing in a month's time.

The Traveller's Tale

We left Sandwich this morning, after a successful geocache, and drove along the coast through wonderful little towns with great views of the English Channel. We drove through the town center of Dover because our previous times in Dover had been on trains passing through on the way to the continent. It turns out we saw everything Dover has to offer from the train. Just south of Dover we came by the Memorial to the Battle of Britain, so we stopped. The Battle of Britain lasted for about 8 months during 1940 when the Germans started their bomb raids on London. The British Air Force was able to hold the Germans at bay, preventing a wholesale invasion by the Germans. As we got out of the car a WW II era "Spitfire" airplane was flying over head but disappeared before we were able to get a picture. Our journey continued along the coast through Folkstone, into Rye where we stopped in nearby Peasmarsh for our Sunday Roast. We'll continue on to East Dean near Eastbourne where we will spend the next three nights with our friends, Clive & Angie Morris.